In today’s post, my goal is to educate you about the Army Supply Sergeant. I will discuss their primary duties and responsibilities, share some example job descriptions, and share some of my best tips to succeed in the job.
Army Supply Sergeant Duties & Responsibilities
The Army Supply Sergeant has a critical role in the readiness and success of their unit. In a nutshell, they are the custodian of the unit’s property. They ensure supplies are on hand, in good working order, and Soldiers have the supplies they need to do their job in combat and peacetime.
Here are the most common Army Supply Sergeant Duties & Responsibilities.
- Responsible for the request, receipt, issue, and accountability of individual, organizational, installation, and expendable supplies and equipment.
- Assists in property accountability through the Property Book Unit Supply Enhanced (PBUSE) system.
- Schedules and performs preventive and organizational maintenance on weapons and other sensitive items.
- Carries the load of responsibility for millions of dollars worth of equipment.
- Ensure critical assets are on hand or ordered.
- Monitors all sensitive items and unit inventories.
- Responsible for managing the Supply Discipline Program.
- Issues and receives small arms and ammunition.
- Prepares daily, weekly, and monthly reports sent to higher headquarters.
- Initiates Financial Liability Investigations of Property Loss (FLIPL).
- Has custodial responsibility of unit’s equipment.
- Supervises Unit Supply Clerks and is also responsible for his/her welfare and training.
If I had to sum it all up in one sentence, “the Supply Sergeant safeguards, maintains, and accounts for the unit’s property.”
Supply Sergeant Job Description
Here’s a good Supply Sergeant Job Description I found at Armywriter.com.
Receives, inspects, inventories, loads/unloads, stores, issues and delivers supplies and equipment within the section; maintains accountability of section supplies and equipment; issues sub hand receipt equipment within the SASMO section; operates SASMO computers; conducts property book validations/reconciliations annually and upon change of accountable officer according to company’s MTOE.
And here’s another job description I found from a unit vacancy posting online.
Serves as the Supply SGT. Selected individual will be responsible for overseeing, evaluating and processing all Logistics-related matters for the company. As the Unit Supply Sergeant, individual supervises or performs duties involving requests, receipt, storage, issue, accountability and preservation of individual, organizational, installation and expendable supplies and equipment; receives, inspects, inventories, loads, unloads, segregates, stores, issues, delivers and returns organization and installation supplies and equipment. Operate unit level computers (ULC). Prepare all unit/organizational supply documents. Maintain automated supply system for accounting of organizational and installation supplies and equipment. Issues and receives small arms. Secures and controls weapons and Ammunition in security areas. Schedules and performs preventive and organizational maintenance on weapons. Provide technical guidance to lower-grade personnel. Coordinates supply activities. Reviews and annotates changes to unit material condition status report. Individual is responsible for posting all transactions to property books and supporting documents files. Coordinates with company and battalion personnel to ensure that equipment and supplies are available and ready for events and other training activities as scheduled. Performs operator duties and unit level maintenance functions on assigned computer systems and equipment (GCSS-Army, ISM, DTS, RCAS, etc.). Additional duties as assigned.
10 Tips to Succeed as an Army Supply Sergeant
Now that you know what a Supply Sergeant is responsible for, I want to share my top 10 success tips for Army Supply Sergeants. This is designed for anyone in the job or about to take the job.
# 1: Get Organized
One of the first things you must do is get organized. You want the Supply Room neat and clean. Store the equipment in a designated place. You want the “flow” to make sense, so Soldiers can get what they need in a timely manner, and so you know where everything is. Once the Supply Room is organized, make the time to establish priorities and create a daily “to do” list.
# 2: Get to Know the PBO & Battalion S4 NCO
The Property Book Officer and Battalion S4 Officer and NCO will be your mentors. They will also be the folks who give you tasks and assignments. You will work with them closely, probably on a daily basis. You can and should learn a lot from these two folks. As you get promoted and advance your career, you will probably move into one of these jobs yourself. Pick their brains whenever possible.
- Ask questions.
- Learn from them.
And do what you can do build a good working relationship with them.
# 3: Keep a Close Eye the Training Calendar & Training Schedule
As the Supply Sergeant you must watch the training calendar and training schedule. You need to know about upcoming training events and what equipment will be needed and when. Work closely with the 1SG and XO to make sure any equipment that needs to be requested gets done. If you do your job right, you can look at the entire training year in advance and forecast what supplies you will need to resource and coordinate.
# 4: Sub Hand Receipt ALL Property
Your goal is to sub-hand receipt all property. You don’t want any property on the commander’s hand receipt and you want as little as possible signed directly to you. Although you have custodial responsibility of everything, sub-hand receipt everything down to Soldiers in the unit. This makes life easier for you, it empowers your subordinates, and can potentially limit your financial liability if something comes up missing.
# 5: Stay on Top of Inventories
Inventories are a nature of the beast. You should know the inventory schedule and ensure people are appointed to do the inventories. You want to educate the designated personnel on how to do inventories properly and make sure the paperwork is processed and turned in on time. Do what you can to keep your commander out of trouble.
# 6: Monitor PMCS & Scheduled Services
Don’t forget to PMCS and do the scheduled services on the equipment in the supply room and vault. You want to make sure the gas masks, weapons, night vision goggles and other equipment is done on time and turned in on time. You will want to work with the Platoon Sergeants to make sure this gets done. This is one area that often gets neglected.
# 7: Review the CSDP Binder Frequently
Your unit will have a CSDP Monitor who handles the Command Supply Discipline Program. This is typically the Company XO. You want to review the binder several times each month to make sure everything is up to date. This is also a great place to find discrepancies in the unit and identify areas for improvement.
# 8: Create a Supply SOP
Your unit needs a good, practical, and functional Supply SOP. You need something that makes sense. Make sure you follow your SOP. Make sure that your SOP accurately reflects the way you do business. Review your SOP at least once a year to ensure it is still current. There are plenty of templates online you can use to create a baseline document, if your unit doesn’t already have an SOP.
# 9: Don’t be a Bureaucrat
You might be surprised that I’ve included this tip on the list, but I must do so. Remember that your job is to serve your unit and the Soldiers in your unit. Their job is not to serve you. Don’t make life difficult for people in your unit. By all means, follow the regulations, but work with people whenever possible. Make sure they know your policies.
# 10: Teach Your Soldiers About Supply Procedures
This tip might come across as a bit weird, but a good Supply Sergeant will educate their peers, subordinates, and superiors about Unit Supply. They should go out of the way to make sure people understand about inventories, regulations, procedures, how to do hand receipts, how to turn in property, how to safeguard property, and more.
Bonus Tip: Keep the Commander Informed
You work for the commander. They are the primary hand receipt holder, but you are the custodian of those items. Your job is to keep the commander informed about all important supply issues. I suggest you ask them what information they want to know about on a regular basis and provide them that information. You can also create a daily or weekly report you can share with the commander and command team, to keep them informed on important issues.
Final Thoughts
In summary, the Army Supply Sergeant has an important job. A good Supply Sergeant can make or break a unit. If you are ever in this duty position, the key to succeed is to know your job, take pride in what you do, get organized, and work hard. By following my ten tips for success, you will be well on your way.
What are your thoughts? What are your best tips for success for Army Supply Sergeants? Leave a comment below to let us know what you think.
Other posts you may enjoy:
- Army 92Y MOS: Unit Supply Specialist
- Army Supply Julian Dates: What it is and How it Works
- Army Supply ARC Codes: What You Should Know
- Army Classes of Supply Cheat Sheet
- Top 4 List of Army Supply Regulations
Chuck Holmes
Former Army Major (resigned)
Publisher, Part-Time-Commander.com
Email: mrchuckholmes@gmail.com
Suggested Resources
Our Books & Training Courses
Recommended Reading List